Regulation of Crypto-Assets in Poland: Legal Framework and Future Directions of Development (Przegląd Prawno-Ekonomiczny)

Summary

• In May 2025, the global market capitalization of crypto-assets exceeded $3.4 trillion, with Bitcoin dominating 61% of the market.p.2
• Poland's regulatory path for virtual assets moved from early self-regulation (2009–2016) to strict oversight and MiCA implementation.p.1
• MiCA mandates capital requirements for Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) of €125,000 or €150,000, depending on their activity profile.p.12
• Polish law proposed transitional periods of 4 and 9 months, which is shorter than the standard 18-month transition option under MiCA.p.8

Key insights

1. The Polish draft law on the crypto-asset market spans 104 pages of normative text, making it among the longest national MiCA implementations in the EU.p.16
2. The UKNF estimates that only 'a dozen or so' companies will submit an application for a CASP license in Poland, pointing to market consolidation.p.17
3. Binance holds a dominant market share among Polish crypto users, representing approximately 38% of global spot trading volume in April 2025.p.17
4. Under MiCA, administrative fines for market abuse violations can reach up to €15 million or 15% of a CASP's total annual turnover.p.14
5. During public consultations for the Polish crypto draft bill, all 21 comments submitted by Kanga exchange and all 9 comments from FinTech Poland were rejected.p.14
6. The Polish Minister for European Union Affairs formally reported that the national draft bill contains gold-plating (overregulation).p.17
7. BitBay relocated its business to Malta in 2018 after reaching a 15% share of European trading volumes and daily volumes exceeding 1.5 billion PLN.p.5